Previous experiments in our laboratory have quantitatively described the cardiovascular (CV) response to exercise and emotional (i.e., Pavlovian) conditioning in unanesthetized rhesus monkeys before and after surgical cardiac denervation (SCD) or experimental myocardial infarction with emphasis on the elucidation of the sympatho-adrenal and parasympathetic nervous regulation of the heart. The specific objectives of this renewal application are to study the performance and regulation of the heart before and after coronary occlusion (CO) as it relates to: (1) Assessing changes in regional function of the normal and ischemic myocardium in unanesthetized baboons during rest and behaviorally conditioned pressor responses; (2) Comparing and contrasting the CV consequences of left anterior descending (LAD) vs left circumflex (LC) CO in awake rhesus monkey; and, (3) Examining the role of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in the etiology of cardiac arrhythmias observed during emotional conditioning. These objectives will be realized by chronically implanting appropriate transducers to measure segment-length changes in restricted portions of normal and ischemic myocardium, left ventricular and arterial pressures, and epicardial and body-surface ECGs. Either the LAD or LC coronary artery will be fitted with a share for eventual CO. Finally, the animals will be operantly conditioned to produce a 1 to 10 minute, 30 mm Hq pressor response, or, alternatively, a classically conditioned CV response; both responses are underwritten by a specific balance of sympathetic and parasympathetic input to the heart. The effects of CO upon cardiodynmaics and the frequency of cardiac arrhythmias during rest and behavioral conditioning will then be tested. Total SCD, parasympathetic cardiac denervation, small cardiac nerve ablation or neural blockade via pharmacologic agents will be used to examine the nervous regulation of the heart after myocardial infarction. Results to data support the hypothesis that the ANS is critically involved in certain compensatory changes in the CV system following CO, but that it may also be involved in the etiology of cardiac arrhythmias occurring during emotional conditioning.